Prague, Oct 22 (CTK) – Selected miscellaneous aspects of the October 20-21 Czech general election:
– The ANO movement has become the first ever winner of a Czech general election to triumph in all 14 regions. Previously, the Social Democrats (CSSD) came the closest to this outcome in 2002 when they won in all regions except for Prague and Liberec. In 1998, still before the 14-region set-up was introduced, the CSSD’s election gain also corresponded to the victory in 12 present regions.
– In the history of the independent Czech Republic, ANO is only the third party to win a general election. Four times the winner was the CSSD (1998, 2002, 2010, 2013), and three times the Civic Democrats (1996, 2006 and also in 1992, under the Czechoslovak federation, whose Czech National Council turned into the first Chamber of Deputies of the independent Czech Republic as of 1993).
– The gap of some 18 percent between the victorious ANO and the second ODS is the largest gap between the winner and the runner-up in the Czech general election history. The second largest was in 1992 when the ODS came 15.7 percent ahead of the second Left Bloc.
– The highest ever number of parties – nine – have entered the Chamber of Deputies, compared with seven in the 2013 general election. Since 1996, six parties succeeded once, five parties three times and four once. In 1992, eight parties entered the Czech National Council, a part of Czechoslovak parliament.
– The parties in the new Chamber of Deputies that strengthened in the weekend election compared with their gain in 2013, are the victorious ANO (11-percent rise), the ODS (3.5-percent rise) and the Pirates (8 percent). Tomio Okamura’s Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), established in 2015, gained 10.6 percent, some 4 percent more than what the Okamura-led Dawn movement gained four years ago. The Mayors and Independents (STAN), who ran independently for the first time now, gained 5.2 percent.
– Compared with the 2013 election results, the biggest loser are the Social Democrats (CSSD), who won 7.3 percent, compared with 20.45 percent four years ago. The Communists (KSCM) lost almost a half of their voter support, gaining 7.8 percent compared with previous 14.9, which is the party’s worst election result since its establishment in 1921. The Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) saw their result worsen slightly to 5.8 percent from the previous 6.8 percent. TOP 09 won 11.99 percent in 2013, when it ran with the STAN’s support, but only 5.3 percent now.
– The newly elected deputies include the ever youngest Czech lawmaker, Dominik Feri (TOP 09) aged 21 years, three months and 10 days. He thus beat Katerina Konecna’s (KSCM) record from 2002 by 1.5 months. Apart from Feri, there is another 21-year-old new deputy, Frantisek Kopriva (Pirates), who, however, will turn 22 in November.
– The highest number of preferential votes, more than 48,000, went to ANO leader Andrej Babis, followed by ODS candidate Vaclav Klaus Jr (22,600) and TOP 09’s Karel Schwarzenberg (19,400, compared with almost 37,000 he received in 2013).
– Out of the cabinet members running in the election, Labour and Social Minister Michaela Marksova (CSSD) and Culture Minister Daniel Herman (KDU-CSL) failed to enter the Chamber of Deputies. Like four years ago, when Okamura’s election as a deputy meant the end of his mandate of a senator, the Senate’s lineup will change now with ANO senator Jiri Hlavaty being elected a lower house deputy.
